Saturday, July 17, 2010

Senators Saturday - Don Wert, 1971.

Don Wert, shown here on card number 307 in the 1971 Topps set, was part of the trade that brought Denny McLain to the Senators in October of 1970. He, McLain, Norm McRae, and Elliot Maddux came to Washington in exchange for Aurelio Rodriguez, Ed Brinkman, Joe Coleman, and Jim Hannan. Ted Williams was not in favor of the trade.

As you can see from the card, Topps had to go with a picture of Don in his Tigers uniform. They probably had to do that because Don only appeared in 20 games for the Senators. He served mostly as an utility infielder with third base being handled by Dave Nelson. Don had seven appearances at third, seven at shortstop, and one at second base. His overall fielding percentage was .941. That wasn't the best but the Senators weren't used to the best.

Don's struggles in the field weren't his ultimate undoing though. In 46 plate appearances he managed just a .050 batting average and a .156 on base percentage. Don struck out 10 times while only walking four. He hit no home runs, no triples, and only one double. He scored just two runs and had only two RBI of his own. Truly some dismal numbers. Wert had lost his bat between Detroit and Washington.

By June the Senators had seen enough of Don Wert. He played his last game on June 11th and on June 24, 1971 the Senators released him. That would end his career. Ted Williams had been right about at least part of the trade.